Lyrics  by  John  B  Tabb 


IB 


LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  OF 
CALIFORNIA 

SAN  DIEGO 


16163: 


LYRICS    BY  JOHN   B.  TABB 


First  edition  (five  hundred  copies)  March,  1897 
Second  edition  (five  hundred  copies)  March,  1897 
Third  edition  (five  hundred  copies)  April,  1897 
Fourth  edition  (five  hundred  copies)  October,  1897 
Printed  by  John  Wilson  &  Son  Cambridge,  U.S.A. 


Lyrics  by 
John  B  Tabb 


Boston  Copelond  and  Day 

London  John  Lane 

MDCCCXCVII 


ENTERED  ACCORDING  TO  THE  ACT 
OF  CONGRESS,  IN  THE  YEAR  1897, 
BY  COPELAND  AND  DAY,  IN  THE 
OFFICE  OF  THE  LIBRARIAN  OF  CON- 
GRESS AT  WASHINGTON. 


TO    THE    MEMORY   OF  MT  MOTHER. 


COWSLIP. 

/T  brings  my  mother  back  to  me, 
Thy  frail,  familiar  form  to  see, 

Which  was  her  homely  joy  ,• 
And  strange,  that  one  so  weak  as  thou, 
Shouldst  lift  the  <veil  that  sunders  now 
The  mother  and  the  boy. 


CONTENTS. 

CHERRY    BLOOM  PAGE    I 

DAWN  2 

ECHO  3 

MORNING    AND    NIGHT    BLOOM  4 
EXALTATION 

HAZARD  6 

THE    YOUNG    TENOR  7 
FRATERNITY 

MY    MESSMATE  9 

"VOX    CLAMANTIS"  IO 

NIAGARA  1J 

THE    BRIDGE  *2 

THE    STATUE  J4 

THE    SEED  15 

THE    TREE  *6 

THE    SISTERS  1 7 

THE    GOSSIP  I  8 

THE    TOLLMEN  19 

THE    PINE-TREE  2O 

TRANSFIGURED  21 

ANONYMOUS  22 

MIDNIGHT  23 

INSOMNIA  24 

PAIN  25 

SYMPATHY  26 


MEMORY  PAGE    27 

LIVERY  28 

SLUMBER-SONG  29 

THE    SUPPLIANT  30 

RELEASED  31 

WRECKED  32 

GONE  33 

AGAINST    THE    SKY  34 

ILLUSION  35 

SUNSET    AT    SEA  36 

INTERPRETED  37 

CHRISTOPHER    COLUMBUS  38 

OFF    SAN    SALVADOR  39 

A    SIGH    OF    THE    SEA  40 

SHELL-TINTS  42 

THE    LOST    ANCHOR  43 

THE    SEA-BUBBLE  44 

DE    PROFUNDIS 

ALTER    IDEM 

FROM    PARADISE 

SELECTION 

MAIDEN    BLOOM 

THE    RAIN    AND    THE    DEW 

THE    SHOWER 

RESIGNATION 

THE    SLEEPING    BEAUTY 

CLEOPATRA    TO   THE    ASP 

Vi 


ADIEU  PAGB    55 

ASLEEP  56 

IN    SOLITUDE  57 

UNHEEDED  ^g 

ALL    IN    ALL  59 

THE    DEWS  60 

THE    LIFE-TIDE  6 1 

ONSET  62 

TO    A    BLIND    BABE,    SLEEPING  63 

FORESHADOWED  64 

SUSPENSE  65 

IMMORTALITY  66 

SECURITY  67 

PILGRIMS  68 

IN    THE    DEATH    CHAMBER  69 


THE    DEPARTED 

THE    FOUNDLING 

RETROSPECT 

REFLECTION 

COMMUNION 

TRANSFIGURATION 

BREAD 

SAND 


BEACON    LIGHTS 


70 

71 
72 

73 
74 
75 
76 
77 


THE    MARSH  78 


79 


OUTSPEEDED  .       go 

THE    SIREN    STREAM    TO    THE    OUTCAST  8 1 

vii 


AT    LAST  PAGE    82 

THE    PILGRIM  83 

MY    GUIDE  84 

GIUL10  86 

BETRAYED  88 

THE    FIRST    SNOW-FALL  89 

AN    INTERVIEW 

ANTICIPATION 

THE    TRYST    OF    SPRING 

ONE    APRIL    MORN 

AN    APRIL    PRAYER 

AN    AUTUMN    LEAF 

MATER    DOLOROSA 

INDIAN    SUMMER 

OCTOBER 

FROM    THE    UNDERGROUND 

THE    SNOWDROP 

WIND-FLOWERS 

AN    APRIL    BLOOM 

PEACH    BLOOM 

MIGNONETTE 

CLOVER 

IMMORTELLES 

SONG    OF    THE    MORNING-GLORIES 

"  CONSIDER   THE    LILIES  " 

TO    A    WOOD-VIOLET 

A    LOTUS    BLOOM 

viii 


A    RUBRIC 

PAGE    III 

THE    SNOW-BIRD 

112 

TO    THE    WOOD-ROBIN 

113 

THE    DEAD    THRUSH 

"5 

CHRISTMAS 

116 

THE    LAMB-CHILD 

117 

THE  ANGEL'S  CHRISTMAS  QUEST 

118 

RESTRAINT 

119 

GLORIA    IN    EXCELSIS 

120 

ON    CALVARY 

121 

TO    THE    CRUCIFIX 

122 

STAB  AT    MATER 

123 

EASTER    EVE 

124 

EASTER    MORNING 

I25 

EASTER    FLOWERS 

126 

GOD 

127 

TENEBR^ 

128 

DEUS    ABSCONDITUS 

129 

GOD'S    LIKENESS 

130 

MY    MEDIATOR 

131 

THE    SONG    OF    THE    MAN 

132 

CHARITY 

133 

FULFILMENT 

134 

ON    SEA    AND    LAND 

J35 

STILLING    THE    TEMPEST 

136 

THE    POSTULANT 

i37 

PURGATORY 

138 

BETTER  PAGB    ,39 


LONE-LAND 


QUATRAINS. 

WOMAN 
OPPORTUNITY 


140 


143 
144 


LIFE 

DEATH  j^g 

RELEASE  I47 

LIGHT  jxg 

IN    DARKNESS  !49 

SILENCE  I50 

FANCY  j.j 

FAME  j5a 

TIME'S    LEGACY  I53 

A    CRISIS  ,54 

THE    CYNOSURE  !55 

RESISTANCE  !56 

THE    BILLOWS  J57 

THE    VOYAGER  I^g 

ADRIFT  I59 

DEEP    UNTO    DEEP  !  60 

VESTIGES  ,6! 

THE    MID-DAY    MOON  !  6a 

TO    AN    EVENING    SHADE  163 

HEROES  ,6^ 

LANIER'S  FLUTE  i6c 


POE-CHOPIN  PAGE    I  66 

TO    AN    EXILE  167 

TO    A    DYING    BABE  1 68 

MY    SECRET  169 

IN    ABSENCE  I7O 

A    REMONSTRANCE  17! 

NEW    AND    OLD  I72 

THE    FIG-TREE  173 

THE    BEE    AND    THE    BLOSSOMS  174 

BONE-CASTANETS  175 

SONNETS. 

DAYBREAK  179 

FORECAST  1 80 

TO  AN  IDOL  l8l 

KEDRON  182 

THE  DRUID  183 

THE  HERMIT  184 

POE  185 

SHELLEY  1 86 

AT  KEATS'S  GRAVE  187 


CHERRY   BLOOM. 

FRAILEST,  and  first  to  stand 

the  border-land 
3 From  darkness  shriven, 
S?In  livery  of  Death 
Thou  utterest  the  breath 
And  light  of  Heaven. 

Tho'  profitless  thou  seem 
As  doth  a  Poet's  dream, 

Apart  from  thee 
Nor  limb  nor  laboring  root 
May  load  with  ripened  fruit 

The  parent  tree. 


DAWN. 

BEHOLD,  as  from  a  silver  horn, 
The  sacerdotal  Night 
Outpours  upon  his  latest-born 
The  chrism  of  the  light  ; 
And  bids  him  to  the  altar  come, 

Whereon  for  sacrifice, 
(A  lamb  before  his  shearers,  dumb,) 
A  victim  shadow  lies. 


ECHO. 

O   FAMISHED  Prodigal,  in  vain  — 
Thy  portion  spent  —  thou  seek'st  again 

Thy  father's  doorj 
His  all  with  latest  sigh  bequeathed 
To  thee  the  wanderer  —  he  breathed, 
Alas  !  no  more. 


MORNING    AND    NIGHT   BLOOM. 

A   STAR  and  a  rosebud  white, 
In  the  morning  twilight  gray, 
The  latest  blossom  of  the  night, 

The  earliest  of  the  day  j 
The  star  to  vanish  in  the  light, 
The  rose  to  stay. 

A  star  and  a  rosebud  white, 

In  the  evening  twilight  gray, 
The  earliest  blossom  of  the  night, 

The  latest  of  the  day  ; 
The  one  in  darkness  finding  light, 

One,  lost  for  aye. 


EXALTATION. 

OLEAF  upon  the  highest  bough, 
The  Poet  of  the  woods  art  thou 
To  whom  alone  't  is  given  — 
The  farthest  from  thy  place  of  birth  — 
To  hold  communion  with  the  earth, 
Nor  lose  the  light  of  Heaven. 

O  leaf  upon  the  topmost  height, 
Amid  thy  heritage  of  light 

Unsheltered  by  a  shade, 
*Tis  thine  the  loneliness  to  know 
That  leans  for  sympathy  below, 

Nor  finds  what  it  hath  made. 


HAZARD. 

ONE  step  'twixt  loss  and  gain  ! 
The  summit  to  attain 
So  near  the  brink  of  Pain 
Hath  joy  to  go  — 

So  steep  the  precipice, 
So  frail  the  footing  is, 
'T  were  death  to  panting  Bliss 
To  look  below. 


THE   YOUNG    TENOR. 

I  WOKE  ;  the  harbored  melody 
Had  crossed  the  slumber  bar, 
And  out  upon  the  open  sea 

Of  consciousness,  afar 
Swept  onward  with  a  fainter  strain, 
As  echoing  the  dream  again. 

So  soft  the  silver  sound,  and  clear, 
Outpoured  upon  the  night, 

That  Silence  seemed  a  listener 
O'erleaning  with  delight 

The  slender  moon,  a  finger-tip 

Upon  the  portal  of  her  lip. 


FRATERNITY. 

I    KNOW  not  but  in  every  leaf 
That  sprang  to  life  along  with  me, 
Were  written  all  the  joy  and  grief 
Thenceforth  my  fate  to  be. 

The  wind  that  whispered  to  the  earth, 
The  bird  that  sang  its  earliest  lay, 

The  flower  that  blossomed  at  my  birth, 
My  kinsmen  all  were  they. 

Ay,  but  for  fellowship  with  these 

I  had  not  been  —  nay,  might  not  be  j 

Nor  they  but  vagrant  melodies 
Till  harmonized  to  me. 


MY   MESSMATE. 

WHY  fear  thee,  brother  Death, 
That  sharest,  breath  by  breath, 
This  brimming  life  of  mine  ? 
Each  draught  that  I  resign 
Into  thy  chalice  flows. 
Comrades  of  old  are  we  $ 
All  that  the  Present  knows 
Is  but  a  shade  of  me  : 
My  Self  to  thee  alone 
And  to  the  Past  is  known. 


9 


"VOX   CLAMANTIS." 

OSEA,  forever  calling  to  the  shore 
With  menace  or  caress,  — 
A  voice  like  his  unheeded  that  of  yore 

Cried  in  the  wilderness  ; 
A  deep  forever  yearning  unto  deep, 
For  silence  out  of  sound,  — 
Thy  restlessness  the  cradle  of  a  sleep 
That  thou  hast  never  found. 


NIAGARA. 

WHERE  echo  ne'er  hath  found 
A  footing  on  the  steep, 
Descends,  without  a  sound, 
The  cataract  of  sleep. 

Like  swallows  in  the  spray, 

When  evening  is  near, 
The  thronging  thoughts  of  day 

About  the  brink  appear  ; 

Till  greets  a  heaven  below 

A  sister  heaven  above, 
Alike  with  stars  aglow 

Of  unextinguished  love. 


THE   BRIDGE. 

WHERE,  as  a  lordly  dream, 
Glides  the  deep-winding  stream 
For  evermore  $ 

Calm,  as  in  conscious  strength, 
Bends  thy  majestic  length, 
From  shore  to  shore. 

Life,  in  its  fevered  heat, 
Surges,  with  pulsing  feet, 

Restless,  above  ; 
Doomed,  in  its  anxious  flow, 
Like  the  strong  tide  below, 

Onward  to  move. 

Strange  is  the  motley  throng  ! 
Hearts  yet  untaught  of  wrong, 

Thoughtless  of  pain, 
Mingle  with  souls  accursM, 
Sands  in  a  desert  thirst  — 

Clouds  without  rain. 

While  o'er  thee  and  below 
Swift  the  twin  currents  flow, 

Thy  form  serene, 
Still  as  the  shades  that  sleep 
On  the  reflecting  deep 

Arches  between. 


O  that,  all  strife  above, 
Strong  in  the  strength  thereof 

Man  evermore 
Built,  with  a  broader  span, 
Love  for  his  fellow-man 

From  shore  to  shore  ! 


THE   STATUE. 

THIRST  fashioned  in  the  artist's  brain, 

r  It  stood  as  in  the  marble  vein, 

Revealed  to  him  alone  ; 
Nor  could  he  from  its  native  night 
Have  led  it  to  the  living  light, 

Save  through  the  lifeless  stone. 

E'en  so,  of  Silence  and  of  Sound 
A  twin-born  mystery  is  found, 

Like  as  of  death  and  birth  ; 
Without  the  pause  we  had  not  heard 
The  harmony,  nor  caught  the  word 

That  Heaven  reveals  to  Earth. 


THE    SEED. 

BEARING  a  life  unseen, 
Thou  lingerest  between 
A  flower  withdrawn, 
And — what  thou  ne'er  shalt  see- 
A  blossom  yet  to  be 
When  thou  art  gone. 

Unto  the  feast  of  Spring 
Thy  broken  heart  shall  bring 

What  most  it  craved, 
To  find,  like  Magdalen 
In  tears,  a  life  again 

Love-lost  —  and  saved  ! 


THE   TREE. 

PLANTED  by  the  Master's  hand 
Steadfast  in  thy  place  to  stand, 
While  the  ever-changing  year 
Clothes,  or  strips  thy  branches  bare  5 
Lending  not  a  leaf  to  hold 
Warmth  against  the  winter's  cold  ; 
Lightening  not  a  limb  the  less 
For  the  summer's  sultriness  ; 
Nay,  thy  burden  heavier  made, 
That  within  thy  bending  shade 
Thankless  multitudes,  oppressed, 
There  may  lay  them  down  and  rest. 
Soul,  upon  thy  Calvary 
Wait  j  the  Christ  will  come  to  thee. 


16 


THE   SISTERS. 

THE  waves  forever  move  } 
The  hills  forever  rest  : 
Yet  each  the  heavens  approve, 
And  Love  alike  hath  blessed 
A  Martha's  household  care, 
A  Mary's  cloistered  prayer. 


THE    GOSSIP. 

SO  near  me  dwells  my  neighbor  Death 
That  e'en  what  Silence  pondereth 
He  catches  word  for  word, 
And  promises,  some  future  day, 
To  visit  me  upon  his  way, 
And  tell  what  he  has  heard. 


18 


THE   TOLLMEN. 

LO,  Silence,  Sleep,  and  Death 
Await  us  on  the  way, 
To  take  of  each  the  tribute  breath 
That  God  himself  did  pay. 

Nor  Solomon's  as  great, 
Nor  Caesar's  strong  control, 
As  his  who  sits  beside  his  gate 
To  take  of  each  the  toll. 


THE   PINE-TREE. 

WITH  whispers  of  futurity 
And  echoes  of  the  past, 
Twin  birds  a  shelter  find  in  thee 

Against  the  wintry  blast,  — 
The  fledgling  Hope,  that  preens  her  wing, 

Too  timorous  to  fly, 
And  Memory,  that  comes  to  sing 
Her  coranach,  and  die. 


TRANSFIGURED. 

nTHROUGHOUT  the  livelong  summer  day 
JL  The  Leaf  and  twlnborn  Shadow  play 

Till  Leaf  to  Shadow  fade  ; 
Then,  hidden  for  a  season  brief, 
They  dream,  till  Shadow  turn  to  Leaf 

As  Leaf  was  turned  to  Shade. 


ANONYMOUS. 

A  NON YMOUS  —  nor  needs  a  name 
/~\To  tell  the  secret  whence  the  flame, 
With  light,  and  warmth,  and  incense,  came 
A  new  creation  to  proclaim. 

So  was  it  when,  His  labor  done, 

God  saw  His  work,  and  smiled  thereon  : 

His  glory  in  the  picture  shone, 

But  name  upon  the  canvas,  none. 


MIDNIGHT. 

A    FLOOD  of  darkness  overwhelms  the  land  5 
And  all  that  God  had  planned, 
Of  loveliness  beneath  the  noonday  skies, 
A  dream  overshadowed  lies. 

Amid  the  universal  darkness  deep, 
Only  the  Isles  of  Sleep, 
As  did  the  dwellings  of  the  Israelite 
In  Egypt,  stem  the  night. 


INSOMNIA. 

E'EN  this,  Lord,  didst  thou  bless  — 
This  pain  of  sleeplessness  — 

The  livelong  night, 

Urging  God's  gentlest  angel  from  thy  side, 
That  anguish  only  might  with  thee  abide 

Until  the  light. 
Yea,  e'en  the  last  and  best, 
Thy  victory  and  rest, 

Came  thus  to  thee  ; 

For  'twas  while  others  calmly  slept  around, 
That  thou  alone  in  sleeplessness  wast  found, 

To  comfort  me. 


PAIN. 

I  AM  a  gardener  to  weed 
And  dig  about  the  heart: 
To  plant  therein  the  pregnant  seed, 
And  watch,  with  many  a  smart, 
The  stem  and  leaf  and  blossom  rise, 

Alternate  to  supply 
The  victims  for  the  sacrifice, 
And,  for  the  fruit,  to  die. 


SYMPATHY. 

LO  !  of  gladness  or  regret 
Teardrops  in  the  violet 
Weeping  till  her  leaves  are  wet, 
Dewdrops  in  mine  eyes  beget  ! 

Mirrored  in  each  lucid  sphere} 
Highest  heaven  to  earth  is  near  ; 
Closer  sympathies  are  here 
'Twixt  the  dewdrop  and  the  tear. 


26 


MEMORY. 

LO,  the  Blossom  to  the  Bee 
Yields  not  more  than  thou  to  me  - 
Food  for  Love  to  live  upon 
When  the  summer  days  are  gone, 
Poorer  than  they  came,  to  find 
What  was  sweetest,  left  behind. 


LIVERY. 

OLD-FASHIONED  raiment  suits  the  Tree  : 
Tho'  flouting  winds  are  fain 
To  strip  the  foliage,  presently 

He  pattern's  it  again  j 
Fastidious  of  chivalry, 
Rejecting  as  in  scorn 
All  other  than  the  panoply 
His  ancestors  have  worn. 


28 


SLUMBER-SONG. 

SLEEP  !  the  spirits  that  attend 
On  thy  waking  hours  are  fled. 
Heaven  thou  canst  not  now  offend 

Till  thy  slumber-plumes  are  shed  j 
Consciousness  alone  doth  lend 

Life  its  pain,  and  Death  its  dread  j 
Innocence  and  Peace  befriend 
All  the  sleeping  and  the  dead. 


29 


THE    SUPPLIANT; 

«  S~^  DEWDROP,  lay  thy  finger-tip 
V_yOf  moisture  on  my  fevered  lip," 
The  noonday  Blossom  cries. 

"  Alas,  O  Dives,  dark  and  deep 

The  gulf  impassable  of  Sleep 
Henceforth  between  us  lies  !  " 


RELEASED. 

GO,  bird,  and  to  the  sky 
Pour  forth  what  thou  and  I 
Have  suffered  here: 
Thou,  for  thy  mate  removed, 
And  I,  for  faith  disproved 
In  one  as  dear. 

Farewell;   and  if  again 
Thou  find  for  prison-pain 

Felicity, 

Be  this  thy  glad  release 
A  prophecy  of  peace, 

Dear  bird,  for  me! 


WRECKED. 

DEEP  in  the  forest  glades, 
Where  leafy  welcomes  wooed  our  wandering  way, 
Once  blent  our  shadows  in  the  dallying  shades 
That  round  us  lay. 

Thenceforth,  of  fate  estranged, 

Each  day  beholds  our  widowed  forms  apart: 
The  word,  the  glance,  the  gesture,  coldly  changed, 

As  heart  to  heart. 

But  cometh  night  to  hide 

Life-wrecks,  far  drifted  in  the  noonday  sun, 
And  lo,  our  shadows,  in  the  sombre  tide, 

Again  are  one! 


GONE. 

THE  sunshine  seeks  thee,  and  the  day* 
Without  thee,  lonely,  wears  away: 
And  where  the  twilight  shadows  pass, 
And  miss  thy  footprints  on  the  grass, 
They  weep  ;  whereat  the  breezes  sigh, 
And,  following  to  find  thee,  die. 


33 


AGAINST   THE   SKY. 

SEE,  where  the  foliage  fronts  the  sky, 
How  many  a  meaning  we  descry 
That  else  had  never  to  the  eye 
A  signal  shown! 

So  we,  on  life's  horizon-line, 
To  watchers  waiting  for  a  sign, 
Perchance  interpret  Love's  design, 
To  us  unknown. 


34 


ILLUSION. 

AS  yonder  circling  heavens  define 
The  limits  of  the  sea, 
And  Death  on  Time's  horizon-line 

Shuts  out  Eternity  j 
So,  while  in  banishment  apart 

Our  widowed  lives  appear, 
Still  holds  each  love-encompassed  heart 
The  centre  of  the  sphere. 


35 


SUNSET    AT    SEA. 

LO,  where  he  sinks  from  sight, 
The  day  forgets  her  light  j 
Nor  breathes  a  wave 
To  break  the  silence  sweet, 
Where  sky  and  ocean  meet 
Above  his  grave. 


INTERPRETED. 

LO,  eastward  o'er  the  billows  white, 
Faint -smiling  wakes  the  Child  of  Night 
From  dreams  all  rosy  with  delight  :  — 
What  means,  O  Sea,  thy  moaning  ? 

Full  noon:  and  o'er  a  cloudless  sky 
Soft  winnowings  of  fragrance  fly  : 
In  all  the  land  no  shadows  lie  :  — 
What  means,  O  Sea,  thy  moaning  ? 

Far  westward,  o'er  a  dying  glow, 
Long  funeral  waves  of  darkness  flow  : 
Ah,  well-a-day  !  too  late  I  know 
What  means,  O  Sea,  thy  moaning  ! 


37 


CHRISTOPHER    COLUMBUS. 

WITH  faith  unshadowed  by  the  night, 
Undazzled  by  the  day, 
With  hope  that  plumed  thee  for  the  flight, 

And  courage  to  assay, 
God  sent  thee  from  the  crowded  ark, 

Christ -bearer,  like  the  dove, 
To  find,  o'er  sundering  waters  dark, 
New  lands  for  conquering  Love. 


OFF   SAN   SALVADOR. 

IT  lay  to  westward  —  as  of  old, 
An  emerald  bar  across  the  gold 
Of  sunset  —  whence  a  vision  grand 
First  beckoned  to  the  stranger-land. 

And  on  our  deck,  uncoffined,  lay 
A  child,  whose  spirit  far  away 
The  wafture  of  an  angel  hand 
Late  welcomed  to  a  stranger-land. 


39 


A    SIGH    OF   THE   SEA. 

"  A  T  7HY  is  it  ? "  once  the  Ocean  asked, 

VV  As  on  a  summer's  day, 
Basking  beneath  a  cloudless  sky, 
In  musing  rest  he  lay, 

"  Why  is  it,  that,  unruffled  still, 

The  welkin's  brow  I  see, 
While  mine,  with  racking  wind  and  tide, 

Deep-furrowed  oft  must  be  ? 

"  Her  richest  gems,  by  night  displayed, 

Man's  filching  grasp  defy  ; 
But  safety  for  my  treasures  none, 

Though  buried  deep  they  lie. 

"  The  hands  that  from  her  diadem 

In  reverence  recoil, 
Are  bold  my  depths  to  penetrate 

And  of  their  wealth  despoil. 

"  A  thousand  ships  with  cruel  keel 

My  writhing  waves  divide, 
But  mariner  hath  never  steered 

Athwart  her  tranquil  tide. 

40 


"  Why  is  it  thus,  that  rest  to  her 

And  toil  to  me  is  given,  — 
That  she  the  blessing  ever  meets, 

And  I,  the  curse  of  Heaven  ? " 

The  Ether  heard.     Through  all  her  depths 

A  deeper  azure  spread, 
And  to  the  murmuring  Ocean  thus, 

With  radiant  smile,  she  said  : 

"  Who  cleaveth  to  the  earth,  as  thou, 

Ne'er  knows  tranquillity  ; 
Naught  pulses  in  my  bosom  wide 

But  God,  whose  own  am  I." 


SHELL-TINTS. 

SEA-SHELL,  whence  the  rainbow  dyes, 
Flashing  in  thy  sunset  skies  ? 
Thou  wast  in  the  penal  brine, 
When  appeared  the  saving  sign. 
"  Yea  j  but  when  the  bow  was  bended, 

Hope,  that  hung  it  in  the  sky, 
Down  into  the  deep  descended 

Where  the  starless  shadows  lie  j 
And  with  tender  touch  of  glory, 

Traced  in  living  lines  of  love, 
On  my  lowly  walls,  the  story 

Written  in  the  heavens  above." 


THE   LOST    ANCHOR. 

AH,  sweet  it  was  to  feel  the  strain, 
What  time,  unseen,  the  ship  above 
Stood  steadfast  to  the  storm  that  strove 
To  rend  our  kindred  cords  atwain  ! 

To  feel,  as  feel  the  roots  that  grow 
In  darkness,  when  the  stately  tree 
Resists  the  tempests,  that  in  me 

High  Hope  was  planted  far  below  ! 

But  now,  as  when  a  mother's  breast 
Misses  the  babe,  my  prisoned  power 
Deep-yearning,  heart-like,  hour  by  hour, 

Unquiet  aches  in  cankering  rest. 


43 


THE   SEA-BUBBLE. 

YEA  }  a  bubble  though  I  be, 
Love,  O  man,  that  fashioned  thee 
Of  the  dust,  created  me 
Not  of  earth,  but  of  the  sea  : 
Kindred  blossoms  then  are  we  — 
Time-blooms  on  eternity. 


44 


DE   PROFUNDIS. 

I    HEED  it  all  :  no  more 
Than  to  my  listening  heart, 
Were  millions  on  the  shore, 
Couldst  thou,  O  Sea,  impart. 

So,  long  in  silence  sealed, 
The  Word  Ineffable 
To  Mary's  heart  revealed 
E'en  all  that  God  could  tell. 


45 


ALTER    IDEM 

' r  I  ^  IS  what  thou  wast  —  not  what  thou  art, 

J.  Which  I  no  longer  know  — 
That  made  thee  sovereign  of  my  heart, 

And  serves  to  keep  thee  so: 

And  couldst  thou,  coming  to  the  throne, 

Thy  Self,  unaltered,  see, 
Thou  mightst  the  occupant  disown, 

And  scout  his  sovereignty. 


FROM    PARADISE. 

ALL  else  that  in  the  limit  lies 
Of  fleeting  time,  I  see: 
The  glance,  Beloved,  of  thine  eyes 
Alone  is  lost  to  me. 

And  in  the  self-same  interval, 

The  ever-changing  place 
Of  light's  horizon-line  is  all 

That  meets  thy  lonely  gaze. 

Behold  the  glimmer  of  a  tear, 

The  twinkle  of  a  star  — 
The  shadow  and  the  light  how  near! 

And  yet,  alas,  how  far! 


47 


SELECTION. 

AMONG  the  trees,  O  God, 
Is  there  not  one 
That  with  unrivalled  love 
Thou  look'st  upon  ? 

And  of  all  blessed  birds, 

Hath  not  thy  Love 
Found  for  its  fittest  mate 

The  homing  dove  ? 

Or,  mid  the  flame  of  flowers 

That  light  the  land, 
Doth  not  the  lily  first 

Before  thee  stand  ? 

So  says  my  soul,  O  God, 

The  type  of  thee. 
"  In  each  life-circle,  one 

Was  made  for  me." 


MAIDEN    BLOOM. 

WHERE  the  youthful  rivals  meet  — 
Reddest  Rose,  and  whitest  Snow  — 
From  a  trysting-place  so  sweet, 

Which  will  soonest  go  ? 
"  Hence  with  life  alone  I  stray," 

Blushed  the  flower  of  balmy  breath. 
"Mine,"   the  snow-wreath  sighed,   " to  stay 
Steadfast  e'en  in  death." 


49 


THE   RAIN    AND    THE   DEW. 

«  npHOU  hast  fallen,"  said  the  Dewdrop 

J.  To  a  sister  drop  of  rain, 
"  But  wilt  thou,  wedded  with  the  dust, 

In  banishment  remain  ?  *' 

tf  Nay,  Dewdrop,  but  anon  with  thee  — 

The  lowlier  born  than  I  — 
Uplifted  shall  I  seek  again 

My  native  home,  the  sky.*' 


THE   SHOWER. 

\  GAINST  the  royal  Blue, 

/\.A  Mist  rebellious  flew  — 
A  night-born,  wind-uplifted  shade 
That  for  an  angry  moment  stayed, 

Then  wept  itself  away. 

The  Earth  with  moistened  eyes 

Beholds  the  sunlit  skies 
Again  :  but  never  to  forget 
The  Cloud  whose  life-drops  mingle  yet 

With  her  maternal  clay. 


RESIGNATION. 

BEHOLD,  in  summer's  parching  thirst, 
The  while  the  waters  pass  them  by, 
The  hills,  like  Tantalus  accurst, 

In  silent  anguish  lie  ; 
Nor  look  they  to  the  lowly  vale 
Wherein  their  famished  shadows  glide, 
But,  with  uplifted  glances  pale, 
The  will  of  Heaven  abide. 


52 


THE    SLEEPING    BEAUTY. 

THE  sculptor  in  the  marble  found 
Her  hidden  from  the  world  around, 
As  in  a  donjon  keep: 
With  gentle  hand  he  took  away 
The  coverlet  that  o'er  her  lay, 
But  left  her  fast  asleep. 

And  still  she  slumbers;  e'en  as  he 
Who  saw  in  far  futurity 

What  now  before  us  lies  — 
The  fairest  vision  that  the  stream 
Of  night,  subsiding,  leaves  agleam 

Beneath  the  noonday  skies. 


53 


CLEOPATRA   TO   THE    ASP. 

"  Dost  thou  not  see  my  baby  at  my  breast, 
That  sucks  the  nurse  asleep  ?  " 

LIE  thou  where  Life  hath  lain, 
And  let  thy  swifter  pain 

His  rival  prove  j 
Till,  like  the  fertile  Nile, 
Death  buries,  mile  for  mile, 
This  waste  of  Love. 

Soft  !     Soft  !     A  sweeter  kiss 
Than  Antony's  is  this  ! 

O  regal  Shade, 
Luxurious  as  sleep 
Upon  thy  bosom  deep 

My  heart  is  laid. 


ADIEU. 

GOD  speed  thee,  setting  Sun  ! 
Thy  beams  for  me  have  spun 
,Of  light  to-day 
A  memory  that  one 
Alone  could  bring,  and  none 
Can  take  away. 


55 


ASLEEP. 

NAY,  wake  him  not ! 
Unfelt  our  presence  near, 
Nor  falls  a  whisper  on  his  dreaming  ear: 
He  sees  but  Sleep's  celestial  visions  clear, 
All  else  forgot. 

And  who  shall  say 
That,  in  life's  waking  dream, 
There  be  not  ever  near  us  those  we  deem 
(As  now  our  faces  to  the  Sleeper  seem) 

Far,  far  away  ? 


IN  SOLITUDE. 

LIKE  as  a  brook  that  all  night  long 
Sings,  as  at  noon,  a  bubble-song 
To  Sleep's  unheeding  ear, 
The  Poet  to  himself  must  sing, 
When  none  but  God  is  listening 
The  lullaby  to  hear. 


57 


UNHEEDED. 

YE  heavens  so  cold  and  clear 
Above  me  weeping  here, 
Where  every  blossom  sheds  a  tear 

My  grief  to  see  j 
No  wonder,  free  from  stain, 
Untroubled  ye  remain  ; 
The  vapors  gendering  the  rain 
Are  all  with  me  ! 


ALL   IN    ALL. 

ONE  heaven  above  ; 
But  many  a  heaven  below 
The  dewdrops  show  — 
God's  tenderness 

Subdued  in  every  teardrop  to  express 
The  whole  of  Love. 


59 


THE   DEWS. 

WE  come  and  go,  as  the  breezes  blow, 
But  whence  or  where 
Hath  ne'er  been  told  in  the  legends  old 

By  the  dreaming  seer. 
The  welcome  rain  to  the  parching  plain 

And  the  languid  leaves, 
The  rattling  hail  on  the  burnished  mail 

Of  the  serried  sheaves, 
The  silent  snow  on  the  wintry  brow 

Of  the  aged  year, 
Wends  each  his  way  in  the  track  of  day 

From  a  clouded  sphere  : 
But  still  as  the  fog  in  the  dismal  bog 

Where  the  shifting  sheen 
Of  the  spectral  lamp  lights  the  marshes  damp, 

With  a  flash  unseen 
We  drip  through  the  night  from  the  starlids  bright, 

On  the  sleeping  flowers, 
And  deep  in  their  breast  is  our  perfumed  rest 

Through  the  darkened  hours  : 
But  again  with  the  day  we  are  up  and  away 

With  our  stolen  dyes, 
To  paint  all  the  shrouds  of  the  drifting  clouds 

In  the  eastern  skies. 


60 


THE   LIFE-TIDE. 

EACH  wave  that  breaks  upon  the  strand, 
How  swift  soe'er  to  spurn  the  sand 

And  seek  again  the  sea, 
Christ-like,  within  its  lifted  hand 
Must  bear  the  stigma  of  the  land 
For  all  eternity. 


61 


ONSET. 

LO,  where  the  routed  shadows  pass, 
Upon  each  lifted  blade  of  grass 
The  tokens  of  a  fray  — 
Pale  life-drops  from  the  heart  of  Night, 
Mute  witnesses  of  sudden  flight 
Before  the  host  of  Day. 


62 


TO    A   BLIND    BABE,   SLEEPING. 

ARE  thy  dreams  dark  ?  or  is  the  light 
Alone  denied  thy  waking  sight, 
While  softer  stars  their  vigils  keep 
Within  thy  hemisphere  of  sleep  ? 

Yea  :  haply,  as  noon-blinded  beams 
Awake  in  darkness,  o'er  thy  dreams 
The  pity  that  begets  our  tears, 
A  kindling  radiance  appears. 


FORESHADOWED. 

SWALLOW,  with  the  spring  returning, 
In  thine  absence  change  hath  been  : 
Dost  thou  mark  the  lonely  places 

Where  no  more  my  Love  is  seen  ? 
Never  maiden  welcomed  thee 
Home  with  lighter  heart  than  she. 

Flitting  in  the  golden  sunshine 
Oft  thy  shadow  o'er  us  strayed. 

Still  we  smiled,  nor  recked  the  warning 
Of  a  life-dividing  shade, 

Now,  alas,  the  world  to  me 

Mourns  that  doomful  prophecy. 


SUSPENSE. 

T)  REATHLESS  as  the  blue  above  thee 
JD  Where  a  pausing  vapor  lies  ; 
Here,  the  hearts  on  earth  that  love  thee, 

There,  the  souls  in  Paradise  — 
Host  for  host  expectant  of  thee  ! 

Who  shall  win  the  prize  ? 


IMMORTALITY. 

E'EN  now  the  spirit  moves 
In  visions  yet  to  be, 
Whereof  the  present  proves 

A  dream  and  prophecy. 
For  still,  the  shadows  gone, 

With  light  forever  new, 
Behold,  another  dawn 

Proclaims  the  promise  true. 


66 


SECURITY. 

THE  Noonday  smiles  to  hear 
The  oft-repeated  tale 
Of  shadows  lurking  near 
Her  sunbeams  to  assail  : 

Nor  heeds  the  placid  Night 

A  prophecy  of  doom 
To  drown  her  stars  in  light 

As  fathomless  as  gloom. 


PILGRIMS. 

UNTO  the  fane  of  Silence  come, 
Love-led  from  alien  lands, 
Pale  pilgrim  Prayers  with  upward  glance, 

And  falling  tears,  and  lifted  hands, 
And  lips  with  stanched  emotion  dumb, 
To  ask  for  utterance. 

There,  shadow-like,  with  folded  wings, 

In  reverence  apart. 
They  wait  till  lingering  Time  hath  brought, 

In  words  or  music  to  the  heart, 
What  Spring  to  wintry  Nature  brings,  — 

Release  for  prisoned  Thought. 


68 


IN   THE   DEATH    CHAMBER. 

STILL  upon  the  vacant  wall 
Doth  the  silver  phantom  fall, 
Like  a  glory  in  the  gloom 
Of  the  long-deserted  room. 

Soul  departed,  can  it  be 
Thou,  death-laurelled  majesty, 
Mingling-,  in  the  moon's  disguise, 
With  our  midnight  reveries  ? 


69 


THE   DEPARTED. 

THEY  cannot  wholly  pass  away, 
How  far  soe'er  above  ; 
Nor  we,  the  lingerers,  wholly  stay 

Apart  from  those  we  love: 
For  spirits  in  eternity, 

As  shadows  in  the  sun, 
Reach  backward  into  Time,  as  we, 
Like  lifted  clouds,  reach  on. 


THE   FOUNDLING. 

WHAT  time  the  wandering  mother  Night 
Made  ready  to  depart, 
A  new-born,  trembling  Dream  of  Light 

She  laid  upon  my  heart. 
"  Keep  it,"   she  sighed,  and  bending  low 

Wept  o'  er  it  where  it  lay  j 
Then,  suddenly  as  April  snow, 
Went  vanishing  away. 


RETROSPECT. 

*T"^HE  heavens  that  seemed  so  far  away 

JL  When  old-time  grief  was  near, 
Beyond  the  vista  seen  to-day, 

Close  o'er  my  life  appear  5 
For  there,  in  reconcilement  sweet, 

The  human  and  divine, 
The  loftiest  and  the  lowliest,  meet 

On  love's  horizon-line. 


72 


REFLECTION. 

STARS  that  with  a  softer  glow 
Waken  in  the  wave  below, 
All  the  stars  above  you  grow 
Wiser  for  the  beams  ye  throw  — 
Light  whereby  alone  they  know 
Why  we  mortals  love  them  so. 


73 


COMMUNION. 

ONCE  when  my  heart  was  passion-free 
To  learn  of  things  divine, 
The  soul  of  nature  suddenly 
Outpoured  itself  in  mine. 

I  held  the  secrets  of  the  deep, 

And  of  the  heavens  above  j 
I  knew  the  harmonies  of  sleep, 

The  mysteries  of  love. 

And  for  a  moment's  interval 
The  earth,  the  sky,  the  sea  — 

My  soul  encompassed,  each  and  all, 
As  now  they  compass  me. 

To  one  in  all,  to  all  in  one  — 
Since  Love  the  work  began  — 

Life's  ever  widening  circles  run, 
Revealing  God  and  man. 


74 


TRANSFIGURATION. 

r  I  ^HE  cloud  unto  its  parent  stream 

X  That  rushes  to  the  sea 
Reveals  a  fkr-reflected  dream 

Of  heaven's  tranquillity  ; 
And  unto  faith's  adoring  sight 

A  mystery  appears,  — 
A  cloud  transfigured  of  the  light 

In  every  tide  of  tears. 


75 


BREAD. 

STILL  surmounting  as  I  came 
Wind  and  water,  frost  and  flame, 
Night  and  day,  the  livelong  year, 
From  the  burial-place  of  seed, 
From  the  earth's  maternal  bosom, 
Through  the  root,  and  stem,  and  blossom, 
To  supply  thy  present  need, 
Have  I  journeyed  here. 


SAND. 

STERILE  sister  though  I  be, 
Twinborn  to  the  barren  Sea, 
Yet  of  all  things  fruitful  we 
Wait  the  end;  and  presently, 
Lo,  they  are  not!  then  to  me 
(Children  to  the  nurse's  knee) 
Come  the  billows  fresh  and  free, 
Breathing  Immortality. 


77 


THE   MARSH. 

rT^HE  woods  have  voices,  and  the  sea, 
JL  Her  choral-song  and  threnody  : 
But  thou  alike  to  sun  and  rain 
Dost  mute  and  motionless  remain. 

As  pilgrims  to  the  shrine  of  Sleep, 
Through  all  thy  solemn  spaces  creep 
The  Tides  —  a  moment  on  thy  breast 
To  pause  in  sacramental  rest ; 
Then,  flooded  with  the  mystery, 
To  sink  reluctant  to  the  sea, 
In  landward  loneliness  to  yearn 
Till  to  thy  bosom  they  return. 


BEACON   LIGHTS. 

SISTER  Blossoms,  ye  have  kept 
So  near  the  Master  while  ye  slept 
That,  as  upon  the  Martyr's  face, 
His  light  celestial  we  trace 
In  yours,  revealing  dreams  that  He, 
Asleep  upon  the  stormy  sea, 
Beheld,  as  though  your  light  alone 
His  beacon  in  the  darkness  shone. 


79 


OUTSPEEDED. 

nnO-NIGHT  the  onward-rushing  train 
JL  Would  bear  thee  far  from  me  5 
But,  winged  with  swifter  dreams,  again 
My  spirit  flies  to  thee. 

Nay,  speeding  far  beyond  thee,  waits 

To  welcome  thee  anew, 
Where  Dawn  is  opening  the  gates 

To  let  the  darkness  through. 


So 


THE  SIREN  STREAM  TO  THE  OUTCAST. 

COME,  for  my  waves  what  I  can  never  know 
Of  calm  bestow  ; 
And  thou,  alas,  like  them,  hast  wandered  far  J 

Come,  erring  star  — 

Aweary  now  —  come  take  thy  fill  of  rest 
Upon  my  breast. 

Come,  for  they  call  thee.      Lean  thy  listening  ear 

And  thou  shalt  hear 
How  soft  the  sigh  that  woos  thee  to  the  deep 

Of  endless  sleep, 
Wherein  the  past  and  all  its  passion  seem 

A  vanished  dream. 

Behold,  I  cleanse  whatever  of  soilure  clings 

To  drooping  wings  : 
Whate'er  abides  of  dust  or  cleaving  clay, 

I  purge  away  ; 
Like  fire,  refining,  but  apart  from  pain, 

All  dross  and  stain. 

The  fever-flame  that  through  thy  being  bums, 

My  bosom  yearns 
To  quench.      Behold,  the  ripples  run  to  meet 

A  sister's  feet, 
With  murmurs,  not  of  scorn,  but  tenderness, 

To  soothe  and  bless. 


AT   LAST. 

HOW  full  of  phantoms  are  the  days 
That  shorten  as  they  go  ! 
Along  the  once  frequented  ways, 

Alas,  are  none  I  know  ! 
Lone  relic  of  reality, 
I  too  a  phantom  fain  would  be. 


82 


THE   PILGRIM. 

WHEN,  but  a  child,  I  wandered  hence, 
Another  child  —  sweet  Innocence, 
My  sister  —  went  with  me: 
But  I  have  lost  her,  and  am  fain 
To  seek  her  in  the  home  again 
Where  we  were  wont  to  be. 


MY    GUIDE. 

LIFT  up  thine  eyes,  my  child, 
That  I  may  see 
The  innocence  that  smiled 
In  one  like  thee  — 

Thy  mother  gone. 

Scarce  older  than  thou  art, 

With  maiden  power 
She  won  a  wayward  heart, 

That  till  that  hour 

Had  worshipped  none. 

Swift  as  a  bird  of  Spring 

In  joyous  flight, 
That  cleaves  with  shadeless  wing 

The  sea  of  light, 

Our  morning  fled. 

When,  sudden  gloom — and  lo! 

A  troubled  sky  — 
A  wail  of  stifled  woe  — 

An  agony  — . 

And  hope  was  dead. 

84 


Then,  as  a  crystal  tear 

Of  sorrow  born, 
Didst  thou,  pale  star,  appear, 

Like  me  forlorn 

In  cheerless  night. 

I  wept,  and  weeping  turned 

To  gaze  on  thee, 
And  through  the  mist  discerned 

A  beam  for  me, 

Lit  of  her  light. 


GIULIO. 

"  T^ATHER  !"  — the  trembling  voice  betrayed 

_F  The  troubled  heart.      "  Be  not  afraid." 
I  softly  answered  :  "  Woe  is  me  ! 
Dead  unto  all  but  misery  ! 
And  yet,  a  child  of  innocence 
Is  mine  —  a  son  unknowing  whence 
His  origin  —  whom,  unaware, 
As  with  an  angel's  watchful  care, 
Thy  gentle  hand  hath  guided.      Now 
He  waits  the  consecrating  vow 
Of  priesthood,  and  to-morrow  stands 
A  Levite,  with  uplifted  hands 
To  bless  thee.      May  a  mother  dare 
To  look  upon  that  face,  and  share, 
Unseen,  the  blessing  of  her  son  ? 
Deny  me  not.      So  be  it  done 
To  thee  in  thy  last  agony, 
As  now  thou  doest  unto  me  !  " 

She  had  her  will.     Secluded  there 
Within  a  cloistered  place  of  prayer, 
We  saw,  and  wept  ;  then,  all  unknown, 
Shrunk  back  into  the  world,  alone. 

Days  passed.     A  winter's  cheerless  morn 
With  summons  came.     A  soul  forlorn 
86 


Craved  help  in  danger  imminent  5 
And,  Christlike,  on  his  mission  went 
The  new  anointed. 

"  Strange,1'  he  said, 
"  The  gleams,  like  inspiration,  shed 
Upon  the  dying  !     There  she  lay, 
Poor  reprobate  !  life's  stormy  day 
In  clouds  departing.      Suddenly, 
As  from  a  trance,  beholding  me, 
'  Giulio  !  hast  thou  come  ?  *  she  cried, 
And  with  her  arms  about  me,  died." 

He  wondered  ;  and  I  turned  away, 
Lest  tears  my  secret  should  betray. 


BETRAYED. 

WHEN  first,  a  new-born  babe,  he  smiled, 
Ere  yet  a  name  was  given, 
We  knew  not  if  the  stranger  child 
Were  more  of  earth  or  heaven. 

His  eyes,  twin  dewdrops,  took  the  light 

Of  noonday's  perfect  blue  : 
His  cheeks,  young  apple-blossoms  white, 

To  warmer  blushes  grew. 

His  lips,  — a  rosy  oracle, 

And  fragrant  as  a  flower's,  — 
Like  breathing  petals,  seemed  to  tell 

Of  sweeter  thoughts  than  ours. 

His  name  ?  —  It  is  a  balmy  word 

Of  sound  and  silence  wove  ; 
We  caught  it  when  an  Echo  stirred 

In  sleep,  and  whispered —  "  Love." 


THE   FIRST    SNOW-FALL. 

THE  Fir-tree  felt  it  with  a  thrill 
And  murmur  of  content  j 
The  last  dead  Leaf  its  cable  slipt 
And  from  its  moorings  went  j 

The  selfsame  silent  messenger 

To  one  the  shibboleth 
Of  Life  imparting,  and  to  one 

The  countersign  of  Death. 


AN    INTERVIEW. 

I  SAT  with  chill  December 
Beside  the  evening  fire. 
"  And  what  do  you  remember,' 

I  ventured  to  inquire, 
"  Of  seasons  long  forsaken  ?  " 

He  answered  in  amaze, 
"  My  age  you  have  mistaken  : 
I've  lived  but  thirty  days" 


90 


ANTICIPATION. 
*TnHE  master  scans  the  woven  score 
JL  Of  subtle  harmonies,  before 

A  note  is  stirred  ; 
And  Nature  now  is  pondering 
The  tidal  symphony  of  Spring, 

As  yet  unheard. 


THE   TRYST   OF   SPRING. 

STERN  Winter  sought  the  hand  of  Spring, 
And,  tempered  to  her  milder  mood, 
Died  leafless  on  the  budding  breast 
He  fondly  wooed. 

She  wept  for  him  her  April  tears, 
But,  from  the  shadows  wandering  soon, 
Dreamed  of  a  warmer  love  to  come 
With  lordly  June. 

He  scatters  roses  at  her  feet, 
And  sunshine  o'er  her  queenly  brow, 
And  through  the  listening  silence  breathes 
A  bridal  vow. 

She  answers  not  ;  but,  like  a  mist 
O'er-brimmed  and  tremulous  with  light, 
In  sudden  tears  she  vanishes 
Before  his  sight. 


ONE   APRIL    MORN. 

TWIN  violets  amid  the  dew 
Unfolded  soft  their  petals  blue 
To  find  the  winter's  dream  come  true, 
One  April  morn. 

Two  warmer,  softer,  violet  eyes, 
Beneath  the  selfsame  April  skies, 
Fulfilled  a  dream  of  paradise, 
One  April  morn. 

Dawn-blossoms  of  a  changeful  day, 
Ye  would  not  till  the  twilight  stay, 
But,  ere  the  noontide,  sped  away, 
One  April  morn. 


93 


AN    APRIL   PRAYER. 

LORD,  to  thy  signal-light  the  trees 
In  leaf  and  flower  reply  : 
Let  not  my  heart,  more  dull  than  these, 
Alone  unwakened  lie. 


94 


AN   AUTUMN   LEAF. 

A  NURSLING  of  the  under-green, 
A  tethered  wing  I  poised  between 
A  heaven  above  and  heaven  below  — 
Twin  Sisters,  mirrored  in  the  glow 
Of  limpid  waters  —  where  the  breeze, 
Blind  comrade  of  the  listening  trees, 
Came  wakening  with  soft  caress 
The  shadows  dumb  and  motionless. 

There  once,  at  summer's  close,  a  flame 
Of  fire  and  song,  a  Redbird  came, 
And,  perched  upon  my  parent  limb, 
Outpoured  his  soul.      From  joy  abrim, 
The  bubbling  vintage  of  his  brain, 
I  quaffed,  the  while  each  fibre-vein, 
Deep-reddening  with  emotion,  stirred. 
Alas  !  he  heeded  not  nor  heard  ! 
But  when  he  ceased,  and  flew  away, 
A  panting  prisoner  I  lay, 
Close-fettered,  till  the  kindred    fire 
Of  frost  lit  up  the  autumn  pyre  : 
Then,  suddenly,  the  tidal  swell 
Of  sap  receded,  and  I  fell. 


95 


MATER   DOLOROSA. 

AGAIN  maternal  Autumn  grieves, 
As  blood-like  drip  the  maple  leaves 
On  Nature's  Calvary, 
And  every  sap-forsaken  limb 
Renews  the  mystery  of  Him 
Who  died  upon  a  Tree. 


INDIAN    SUMMER. 

NO  more  the  battle  or  the  chase 
The  phantom  tribes  pursue, 
But  each  in  its  accustomed  place 

The  Autumn  hails  anew  : 
And  still  from  solemn  councils  set 

On  every  hill  and  plain, 
The  smoke  of  many  a  calumet 
Ascends  to  heaven  again. 


97 


OCTOBER. 

BEHOLD,  the  fleeting  swallow 
Forsakes  the  frosty  air  ; 
And  leaves,  alert  to  follow, 

Are  falling  everywhere, 
Like  wounded  birds,  too  weak 
A  distant  clime  to  seek. 

And  soon,  with  silent  pinions, 
The  fledglings  of  the  North 

From  winter's  wild  dominions 
Shall  drift,  affrighted,  forth, 

And,  phantom-like,  anon 

Pursue  the  phantoms  gone. 


98 


FROM   THE   UNDERGROUND. 
T) EH OLD,  before  the  wintry  gale, 
JD  Across  the  sea  of  Night, 
How  many  a  fragrant  blossom-sail 
Comes  drifting  to  the  light  ! 

Whence  are  they  ?     Who  hath  piloted 

Their  journey  from  afar  ? 
The  self-same  miracle  that  led 

The  Magi  and  the  Star. 


99 


THE    SNOWDROP. 

BEHOLD,  from  winter's  sleeping  side, 
The  sacramental  power 
Of  Nature  fashioneth  a  bride 
As  fair  as  Eden's  flower. 


WIND-FLOWERS. 

AS  whispers  for  a  moment  rest 
Upon  the  brink  of  sound, 
Here  fragrant  breezes  blossom-drest, 
Half-visible  are  found. 


AN    APRIL   BLOOM. 

WHENCE  art  thou  ?     From  what  cnrysalis 
Of  silence  hast  thou  come  ? 
What  thought  in  thee  finds  utterance 

Of  dateless  ages  dumb  — 
Outspeeding  in  the  distance  far 
The  herald  glances  of  a  star 
As  yet  unseen  ? 

Wast  thou,  ere  thine  awakening  here, 

In  other  realms  a-bloom  ? 
Or  swathed  in  seamless  cerements 

Of  immemorial  gloom, 
Till  now,  as  Nature's  pulses  move, 
Thou  blossomest,  a  breath  of  Love, 
Her  lips  between  ? 


PEACH    BLOOM. 

A   DREAM  in  fragrant  silence  wrought, 
l~x  A  blossoming  of  petaled  thought, 
A  passion  of  these  April  days,  — 
The  blush  of  Nature  now  betrays. 


103 


MIGNONETTE. 

GIVE  me  the  earth,  and  I  might  heap 
A  mountain  from  the  plain  j 
Give  me  the  waters  of  the  deep, 

I  might  their  strength  restrain  j 
But  here  a  secret  of  the  sod 
Betrays  the  daintier  hand  of  God. 


104 


CLOVER. 

T    ITTLE  masters,  hat  in  hand, 

J /Let  me  in  your  presence  stand, 

Till  your  silence  solve  for  me 
This  your  threefold  mystery. 

Tell  me  —  for  I  long  to  know  — > 
How,  in  darkness  there  below, 
Was  your  fairy  fabric  spun, 
Spread  and  fashioned,  three  in  one. 

Did  your  gossips  gold  and  blue, 
Sky  and  Sunshine,  choose  for  you, 
Ere  your  triple  forms  were  seen, 
Suited  liveries  of  green  ? 

Can  ye  —  if  ye  dwelt  indeed 
Captives  of  a  prison  seed  — 
Like  the  Genie,  once  again 
Get  you  back  into  the  grain  ? 

Little  masters,  may  I  stand 
In  your  presence,  hat  in  hand, 
Waiting  till  you  solve  for  me 
This  your  threefold  mystery  ? 


105 


IMMORTELLES. 

"  nr*HEY  toil  not,  neither  do  they  spin  "  — 
Ji  The  blossom-Thoughts  that  here  within 
The  garden  of  my  soul  arise  j 
Alike  unheeding  wintry  skies, 
Or  sun  or  rain,  or  night  or  day, 
And  never  hence  to  pass  away. 


106 


SONG    OF   THE   MORNING-GLORIES. 

WE  wedded  each  a  star,  — 
A  warrior  true, 
That  plighted  faith  afar 
In  drops  of  dew. 

But  comes  the  cruel  Dawn  : 

The  dew  is  dry  j 
And  we,  our  lovers  gone, 

Lamenting,  die. 


107 


"CONSIDER   THE   LILIES." 
"TH  IS  not  the  radiant  star  above 

X  That  breathes  for  me  the  lore  of  love 
As  doth  the  dewy  censer  sweet 
That  Heaven  enkindles  at  my  feet. 

Yea,  more  for  me  of  tenderness 
Is  uttered  in  the  mute  caress 
Upon  these  moistened  petals  found, 
Than  e'er  was  wedded  unto  sound. 


108 


TO    A   WOOD-VIOLET. 

IN  this  secluded  shrine, 
O  miracle  of  grace, 
No  mortal  eye  but  mine 
Hath  looked  upon  thy  face. 

No  shadow  but  mine  own 

Hath  screened  thee  from  the  sight 
Of  Heaven,  whose  love  alone 

Hath  led  me  to  thy  light. 

Whereof —  as  shade  to  shade 
Is  wedded  in  the  sun,  — 

A  moment's  glance  hath  made 
Our  souls  forever  one. 


109 


A   LOTUS    BLOOM. 

WAS  the  dream  thou  wovest  me, 
But  a  blossom-fantasy  ? 
When  it  faded  from  my  brain, 
Flushed  it  into  flower  again  ? 

When  thy  blossom  withereth  — 
When  the  fairer  flower  of  Death 
Weaves  its  vision  —  shall  the  dream 
Mine  or  thine,  returning,  seem  ? 


A   RUBRIC. 

THE  aster  puts  its  purple  on 
When  flowers  begin  to  fall, 
To  suit  the  solemn  antiphon 
Of  Autumn's  ritual  j 

And  deigns,  unwearied,  to  stand 

In  robes  pontifical, 
Till  Indian  Summer  leaves  the  land, 

And  Winter  spreads  the  pall. 


THE   SNOW-BIRD. 

WHEN  snow,  like  silence  visible, 
Hath  hushed  the  summer  bird, 
Thy  voice,  a  never-frozen  rill 
Of  melody,  is  heard. 

But  when  from  winter's  lethargy 

The  buds  begin  to  blow, 
Thy  voice  is  mute,  and  suddenly 

Thou  vanishest  like  snow. 


TO    THE   WOOD-ROBIN. 

r  I  ""HE  wooing  air  is  jubilant  with  song, 
-L  And  blossoms  swell 
As  leaps  thy  liquid  melody  along 

The  dusky  dell, 
Where  Silence,  late  supreme,  foregoes  her  wonted  spell. 

Ah,  whence,  in  sylvan  solitudes  remote, 

Hast  learned  the  lore 
That  breeds  delight  in  every  echoing  note, 

The  woodlands  o'er  j 

As  when,  through  slanting  sun,  descends  the  quicken- 
ing shower  ? 

Thy  hermitage  is  peopled  with  the  dreams 

That  gladden  sleep  ; 
Here  Fancy  dallies  with  delirious  themes 

Mid  shadows  deep, 
Till  eyes,  unused  to  tears,  with  wild  emotions  weep. 

We  rise,  alas,  to  find  our  visions  fled  ! 

But  thine  remain. 
Night  weaves  of  golden  harmonies  the  thread, 

And  fills  thy  brain 
With  joys  that  overflow  in  Love' s  awakening  strain. 


Yet  thou,  from  mortal  influence  apart, 

Seek'  st  naught  of  praise  j 
The  empty  plaudits  of  the  emptier  heart 

Taint  not  thy  lays  : 
Thy  Maker's  smile  alone  thy  tuneful  bosom  sways. 

Teach  me,  thou  warbling  eremite,  to  sing 

Thy  rhapsody  ; 
Nor  borne  on  vain  ambition's  vaunting  wing, 

But  led  of  thee, 
To  rise  from  earthly  dreams  to  hymn  Eternity. 


114 


THE   DEAD   THRUSH. 

LOVE  of  nest  and  mate  and  young, 
Woke  the  music  of  his  tongue, 
While  upon  the  fledgling's  brain 
Soft  it  fell  as  scattered  grain, 
There  to  blossom  tone  for  tone 
Into  echoes  of  his  own. 

Doth  the  passion  wholly  die 
When  the  fountainhead  is  dry? 
Nay  :  as  vapor  from  the  sea, 
Lives  the  dream  eternally  ; 
Soon  the  silent  clouds  again 
Melt  in  rhapsodies  of  rain. 


CHRISTMAS. 

THE  womb  of  Silence  bears  the  Eternal  Word, 
And  yet  no  sound  is  heard  : 
The  womb  of  Mary,  Virgin  undefiled, 
Mothers  the  Heaven-born  Child. 


116 


THE   LAMB-CHILD. 

WHEN  Christ  the  Babe  was  born, 
Full  many  a  little  lamb 
Upon  the  wintry  hills  forlorn 
Was  nestled  near  its  dam  } 

And,  waking  or  asleep, 

Upon  His  mother's  breast, 
For  love  of  her,  each  mother-sheep 

And  baby-lamb  He  blessed. 


117 


THE   ANGEL'S    CHRISTMAS   QUEST. 
«  TT  THERE  have  ye  laid  my  Lord  ? 

VV  Behold,  I  find  Him  not  ! 
Hath  He,  in  heaven  adored, 

His  home  forgot  ? 
Give  me,  O  sons  of  men, 
My  truant  God  again  P  * 

"  A  voice  from  sphere  to  sphere  — 
A  faltering  murmur  —  ran, 
« Behold,  He  is  not  here  ! 
Perchance  with  Man, 
The  lowlier  made  than  we, 
He  hides  His  majesty.'  " 

Then,  hushed  in  wondering  awe, 
The  spirit  held  his  breath, 
And  bowed  :  for,  lo,  he  saw 

O'ershadowing  Death, 
A  Mother's  hands  above, 
Swathing  the  limbs  of  Love  I 


118 


RESTRAINT. 

PAUSE  while  thine  eyes  are  alien  to  the  scene 
That  lies  before  thee.     Let  the  Fancy  range, 

As  yet  she  may,  sole  sovereign  of  the  strange 
Uncharted  region  of  that  wide  demesne 
Where  Truth  the  tyrant  never  yet  hath  been. 

He,  once  supreme,  as  in  a  narrowed  grange 

Thenceforth  abides  forever  —  Chance  and  Change 
Foregone  his  guarded  barriers  between. 
Pass  not:  before  the  all-discerning  Light 

The  angels  veil  their  faces.      To  the  wise 
The  tree  of  Knowledge  in  their  Eden  stands 

Untasted,  lest  the  Death  that  in  it  lies 
Prevail,  the  bud  of  Innocence  to  blight, 

And  cloud  the  glimpse  of  ever-widening  lands. 


119 


GLORIA    IN    EXCELSIS. 
''T*  IS  Christmas  night  !     Again  - 
J.  But  not  from  heaven  to  earth  - 
Rings  forth  the  old  refrain 
"  A  Saviour's  Birth  !  " 

Nay,  listen  :  't  is  below  ! 
A  song  that  soars  above, 
From  human  hearts  aglow 
With  heavenly  love  ! 


ON    CALVARY. 

IN  the  shadow  of  the  rood 
Love  and  Shame  together  stood  j 
Love,  that  bade  Him  bear  the  blame 
Of  her  fallen  sister  Shame  j 
Shame,  that  by  the  pangs  thereof 
Bade  Him  break  His  heart  for  Love. 


TO   THE  CRUCIFIX. 

DAY  after  day  the  spear  of  morning  bright 
Pierces  again  the  ever-wounded  side, 
Pointing  at  once  the  birthspring  of  the  Light, 
And  where  for  Love  the  Light  Eternal  died. 


STABAT   MATER. 

THE  star  that  in  his  splendor  hid  her  own, 
At  Christ's  Nativity, 
Abides  —  a  widowed  satellite  —  alone, 
On  tearful  Calvary. 


EASTER   EVE. 

LO ,  now  His  deadliest  foes  prevail  ! 
And  where  His  bleeding  footsteps  fail, 
Like  wolves  upon  a  victim's  trail, 
They  gloat,  in  purple  mockery,  "  Hail!" 

O  cloud  !     O  regal  vesture  torn  ! 
O  shadow  on  the  shoulders  borne  ! 
O  diadem  !  —  one  starry  thorn 
Shall  blossom  into  Easter  morn  ! 


124 


EASTER   MORNING. 

BEHOLD,  the  night  of  sorrow  gone, 
Like  Magdalen  the  tearful  Dawn 
Goes  forth  with  love's  anointing  sweet, 
To  kiss  again  the  Master's  feet  ! 


EASTER   FLOWERS. 

WE  are  His  witnesses;  out  of  the  dim, 
Dank  region  of  Death  we  have  risen  with  Him. 
Back  from  our  sepulchre  rolleth  the  stone, 
And  Spring,  the  bright  Angel,  sits  smiling  thereon. 

We  are  His  witnesses.      See,  where  we  lay 
The  snow  that  late  bound  us  is  folded  away  j 
And  April,  fair  Magdalen,  weeping  anon, 
Stands  flooded  with  light  of  the  new-risen  Sun ! 


126 


GOD. 

I   SEE  Thee  in  the  distant  blue  j 
But  in  the  Violet's  dell  of  dew, 
Behold,  I  breathe  and  touch  Thee  too. 


127 


TENEBRjE. 

WHATE'ER  my  darkness  be, 
'T  is  not,  O  Lord,  of  Thee  : 
The  light  is  Thine  alone  ; 
The  shadows,  all  my  own. 


128 


DEUS    ABSCONDITUS. 

MY  God  has  hid  Himself  from  me 
Behind  whatever  else  I  seej 
Myself  —  the  nearest  mystery  — 
As  far  beyond  my  grasp  as  He. 

And  yet,  in  darkest  night,  I  know, 
While  lives  a  doubt-discerning  glow, 
That  larger  lights  above  it  throw 
These  shadows  in  the  vale  below. 


129 


GOD'S   LIKENESS. 

NOT  in  mine  own,  but  in  my  neighbor's  face, 
Must  I  Thine  image  trace  : 
Nor  he  in  his,  but  in  the  light  of  mine, 
Behold  thy  Face  Divine. 


130 


MY   MEDIATOR. 

"  1\I  °NE  betwixt  God  and  me  ?  " 
l\l  "Behold,  my  neighbor,  thee, 
Unto  His  lofty  throne 
He  makes  my  stepping-stone." 


THE   SONG   OF   THE   MAN. 

"  r  I  ^HE  woman  gave,  and  I  did  eat." 

JL  Whereof  gave  she  ? 
"  'T  was  of  the  garden  fruitage  sweet  — 

A  portion  fair  to  see  j 
She  plucked  and  ate,  and  I  did  eat, 
And  lost  alike  are  we  ; 

God  saith, 
Ye  die  the  death  ! 

"  The  woman  gave,  and  I  did  eat.'* 

Whereof  gave  she  ? 
"  'Twas  of  her  womb  a  Burden  sweet - 

But  sad,  alas,  to  see  ; 
She  took  and  ate,  and  I  did  eat, 
And  saved  alike  are  we  } 

God  saith, 
So  dieth  Death  !" 


132 


CHARITY 

IF  but  the  world  would  give  to  Love 
The  crumbs  that  from  its  table  fall, 
'T  were  bounty  large  enough  for  all 
The  famishing  to  feed  thereof. 

And  Love,  that  still  the  laurel  wins 
Of  Sacrifice,  would  lovelier  grow, 
And  round  the  world  a  mantle  throw 
To  hide  its  multitude  of  sins. 


133 


FULFILMENT. 

NO  bloom  forgotten  !  but  upon  each  face 
The  dews  baptismal,  and  the  selfsame  sign 
Of  Night's  communion,  that  the  fervid  gaze 
Of  Paschal  Morning  changes  into  wine. 


134 


ON    SEA   AND   LAND. 

ONE  sobbing  wave,  above  her  fellows  blest, 
His  feet  caressed  : 

One  homeless  heart  —  the  lone,  unbidden  guest  - 
Her  God  confessed. 


135 


STILLING   THE   TEMPEST. 

TWAS  all  she  could:  — The  gift  that   Nature 
gave, 

The  torrent  of  her  tresses  —  did  she  spill 
Before  His  feet  :  and  lo,  the  troubled  wave 

Of  passion  heard  His  whisper,  "  Peace,  be  still  t  " 


136 


THE   POSTULANT. 

IN  ashes  from  the  wasted  fires  of  noon, 
Aweary  of  the  light, 
Comes  Evening,  a  tearful  novice,  soon 
To  take  the  veil  of  night. 


137 


PURGATORY. 

HOW  long,  O  Lord,  how  long 
These  penal  fires  among  ? 
—  Till  love  with  fiercer  flame 
The  strength  of  torture  tame. 


BETTER. 

"OETTER  for  Sin  to  dwell  from  Heaven  apart 

JDln  foulest  night, 

Than  on  its  lidless  eyeballs  feel  the  dart 

Of  torturing  Light. 
Better  to  pine  in  floods  of  sulphurous  fire, 

Than  far  above 
Behold  the  bliss  of  satisfied  desire, 

Nor  taste  thereof. 
Yea,  Love  is  Lord,  e'en  where  the  Powers  of  Pain 

Undying  dwell  : 
Defiled,  in  spotless  glory  to  remain 

Were  deeper  hell. 


139 


LONE-LAND. 

AROUND  us  lies  a  world  invisible, 
With  isles  of  Dreams,  and  many  a  continent 
Of  Thought,  and  isthmus  Fancy;  where  we  dwell 

Each  as  a  lonely  wanderer  intent 
Upon  his  vision;  finding  each  his  fears 
And  hopes  encompassed  by  the  tide  of  Tears. 


140 


QUATRAINS. 


WOMAN. 

'HALL  she  come  down,  and  on  our  level 

'stand  ? 

| Nay  j    God   forbid  it  !      May    a    mother's 
jyes  — 

Love's  earliest  home,  the  heaven  of  Baby  land  — 
Forever  bend  above  us  as  we  rise. 


143 


OPPORTUNITY. 

ONCE  only  did  the  Angel  stir 
The  pool,  whereat  She  paused  in  pain : 
Another  step  outspeeded  her  j 
The  waters  ne'er  have  moved  again. 


LIFE. 

THE  Power  that  lifts  the  leaf  above 
And  sends  the  root  below, 
Sustains  the  heart  in  brother-love 
And  makes  it  heavenward  grow. 


DEATH. 

SO  sweet  to  tired  mortality  the  night 
Of  Life's  laborious  day, 
That  God  himself,  overwearied  of  the  light, 
Within  its  shadow  lay. 


146 


RELEASE. 

SO  long  am  I  a  prisoner 
As  Time  and  Thought  surround  me  here  : 
When  Time  is  dead,  and  Memory 
Deserts  the  ramparts,  I  am  free. 


LIGHT. 

WE  know  thee  not,  save  that  when  thou  art  gone, 
Thy  sister,  Beauty,  follows  in  thy  train, 
Leaving  the  soul  in  exile  till  the  dawn 

Come  with  the  gift  of  franchisement  again. 


148 


IN    DARKNESS. 

DUMB  Silence  and  her  sightless  sister  Sleep 
Glide,  mistlike,  through  the   deepening  Vale  of 

Night  } 

Waking,  where'er  their  shadowy  garments  sweep, 
Dream-voices  and  an  echoing  dream  of  light. 


149 


SILENCE. 

A  SEA  wherein  the  rivers  of  all  sound 
Their  streams  incessant  pour, 
But  whence  no  tide  returning  e'er  hath  found 
An  echo  on  the  shore. 


FANCY. 

A  BOAT  unmoored,  wherein  a  dreamer  lies, 
The  slumberous  waves  low-lisping  of  a  land 
Where  Love,  forever  with  unclouded  eyes, 

Goes,  wed  with  wandering  Music,  hand  in  hand. 


FAME. 

THEIR  noonday  never  knows 
What  names  immortal  are  : 
'T  is  night  alone  that  shows 
How  star  surpasseth  star. 


152 


TIME'S   LEGACY. 

THE  night  so  long  to  Grief, 
The  day  to  Joy  so  brief, 
What  shall  Eternity 
To  each,  unaltered,  be! 


153 


A    CRISIS. 

OLEAF,  against  the  twilight  seen, 
Move  not  ;  for  at  thy  side 
Gleams,  trembling  lest  thou  intervene, 
My  hope,  my  star,  my  guide. 


154 


THE    CYNOSURE. 

SO  let  me  in  thy  heaven  of  thought  appear, 
As  doth  a  twilight  star  — 
The  harbinger  of  tenderest  hopes  anear, 
And  memories  afar. 


155 


RESISTANCE. 

T3  ESISTANCE  to  its  pinions  light 
AXUplifts  the  bird  in  airy  flight} 
Resistance  to  the  winged  soul 
Uplifts  it  to  the  lofty  goal. 


156 


THE    BILLOWS. 

OF  tribes  that  in  the  desert  fell 
The  wandering  souls  are  we  — 
Wind-scattered  seed  of  Ishmael 
Upon  the  sterile  sea. 


157 


THE   VOYAGER. 

COLUMBUS-LIKE,  I  sailed  into  the  night, 
V-^The  sunset  gold  to  find: 
Alas!  'twas  but  the  phantom  of  the  light! 
Life's  Indies  lay  behind! 


158 


ADRIFT. 

THE  calm  horizon  circles  only  me, 
The  centre  of  its  measureless  embrace, 
A  bubble  on  the  bosom  of  the  sea, 
Itself  a  bubble  in  the  bound  of  space. 


159 


DEEP    UNTO    DEEP. 

WHERE  limpid  waters  lie  between, 
There  only  heaven  to  heaven  is  seen: 
Where  flows  the  tide  of  mutual  tears 
There  only  heart  to  heart  appears. 


160 


VESTIGES. 

UPON  the  Isle  of  Time  we  trace 
The  signs  of  many  a  vanished  race: 
But  on  the  sea  that  laps  it  round, 
No  memory  of  man  is  found. 


161 


THE   MID-DAY   MOON. 

BEHOLD,  whatever  wind  prevail, 
Slow  westering,  a  phantom  sail  — 
The  lonely  soul  of  Yesterday  — 
Unpiloted,  pursues  her  way. 


162 


TO    AN    EVENING   SHADE. 

O  PILGRIM,  ever  yearning  for  the  East, 
What  fate  before  thee  lies  ? 

"  The  spouse  of  Night,  and,  from  the  wedding  feast, 
The  Morning's  sacrifice.'" 


163 


HEROES. 

A  GAINST  the  night,  a  champion  bright, 
x\.The  glow-worm,  lifts  a  spear  of  light  j 
And,  undismayed,  the  slenderest  shade 
Against  the  noonday  bares  a  blade. 


164 


LANIER'S    FLUTE. 

WHEN  palsied  at  the  pool  of  Thought 
The  Poet's  words  were  found, 
Thy  voice  the  healing  Angel  brought 
To  touch  them  into  sound. 


165 


POE-CHOPIN. 

O'  ER  each  the  soul  of  Beauty  flung 
A  shadow  mingled  with  the  breath 
Of  music  that  the  Sirens  sung, 
Whose  utterance  is  death. 


166 


TO    AN    EXILE. 

AS  still  upon  the  prophet  shone 
A  light,  when  God  himself  was  gone, 
So  lives,  unbanished  from  thine  eyes, 
The  splendor  of  thy  native  skies. 


167 


TO   A   DYING   BABE. 

O  BUBBLE,  break  !  All  heaven  thou  hast 
Unsullied  in  thy  heart  ! 
Ere  Time  its  shadow  on  thee  cast 
Love  calls  thee  to  depart. 


1 68 


MY   SECRET. 

"T*  IS  not  what  I  am  fain  to  hide, 

JL  That  doth  in  deepest  darkness  dwell, 
But  what  my  tongue  hath  often  tried, 

Alas,  in  vain,  to  tell. 


169 


IN    ABSENCE. 

ALL  that  thou  art  not,  makes  not  up  the  sum 
Of  what  thou  art,  beloved,  unto  me  : 
All  other  voices,  wanting  thine,  are  dumb  j 
All  vision,  in  thine  absence,  vacancy. 


170 


A    REMONSTRANCE. 

SING  me  no  more,  sweet  warbler,  for  the  dart 
Of  joy  is  keener  than  the  flash  of  pain: 
Sing  me  no  more,  for  the  re-echoed  strain 
Together  with  the  silence  breaks  my  heart. 


171 


NEW   AND    OLD. 

NEW  blossoms  from  the  selfsame  earth, 
Beneath  the  selfsame  skies  ; 
New  hope  with  dawn's  perennial  birth, 
The  selfsame  heaven  supplies. 


172 


THE   FIG-TREE. 

FIRST  go-between  in  fallen  man's  defence, 
To  shield,  or  share  his  blame. 
Christ-like,  to  lend  the  robe  of  innocence 
Wherewith  to  hide  his  shame. 


173 


THE   BEE   AND    THE   BLOSSOMS. 

WHY  stand  ye  idle,  blossoms  bright, 
The  livelong  summer  day  ? 
' '  Alas  !  we  labor  all  the  night 
For  what  thou  takest  away  !  " 


174 


BONE-CASTANETS. 

APART,  of  death  and  silence  we, 
The  fittest  emblems  found, 
Together,  mad  with  minstrelsy, 
Leap  into  life  and  sound. 


175 


SONNETS. 


DAYBREAK. 

pHAT  was  thy  dream,  sweet  Morning  ? 
jffor,  behold, 

'  Thine  eyes  are  heavy  with  the  balm  of 
)  night, 

And,  as  reluctant  lilies  to  the  light, 
The  languid  lids  of  lethargy  unfold. 
Was  it  the  tale  of  Yesterday  retold  — 

An  echo  wakened  from  the  western  height, 
Where  the  warm  glow  of  sunset  dalliance  bright 
Grew,  with  the  pulse  of  waning  passion,  cold  ? 
Or  was  it  some  heraldic  vision  grand 
Of  legends  that  forgotten  ages  keep 
In  twilight,  where  the  sundering  shoals  of  day 
Vex  the  dim  sails,  unpiloted,  of  Sleep, 

Till,  one  by  one,  the  freighting  fancies  gay, 
Like  bubbles,  vanish  on  the  treacherous  strand  ? 


179 


FORECAST. 

ALL  night  a  rose,  with  budding  warmth  aglow, 
Above  a  sleeper's  dreamful  visage  hung, 

Pale  with  intenser  passion  than  the  tongue 
Of  man  is  tuned  to  utter.      Breathing  low, 
The  night  winds,  fledged  with  odor,  to  and  fro 
Went  wandering  the  languid  leaves  among  ; 
While  darkling  woke  a  mocking-bird,  and  sung 
All  echoes  that  the  noonday  warblers  know. 
The  dream,  the  song,  the  odor,  each  in  one 
Upbreathing  as  a  starry  vapor,  spread, 
And  from  the  golden  minarets  of  morn, 
Far  heralding  the  unawakened  sun, 
A  rapture  as  of  poesy  outshed 

Upon  the  spirit  of  a  babe  unborn. 


180 


TO   AN    IDOL. 

MUTE  oracle  of  meek  humanity, 
Save  to  its  sense  of  blindness  wholly  blind, 

That  drifting  wide  in  misery,  to  find 
Some  beacon  o'er  the  night-encumbered  sea, 
Steered  in  pathetic  ignorance  to  thee  j 

What  sighs,  what  tears  —  of  agony  confined 

Within  the  sunless  prison  of  the  mind, 
Walled  up  of  doubt,  and  locked  in  mystery, 

Couldst  thou,  if  thought  were  voluble,  reveal, 
Of  panting  love,  and  hopes  all  winged  to  rise 

But  netted  of  bewilderment,  and  worn 

To  thin  despair,  deep-shuddering  to  feel 
No  warmth  below,  above,  no  sympathies, 

No  rest  but  in  oblivion  forlorn! 


181 


KEDRON. 

WHERE  silence  broods  on  ruin,  thou  alone, 
Sweet  oracle,  in  rippling  numbers  low, 

Dost  onward  through  the  waste  of  ages  flow, 
As  an  eternal  echo.      With  thy  tone 
Blent  David's  holy  anthems,  and  the  moan 

That  shook  his  heart  in  exile  didst  thou  know, 

What  time  his  tears  of  tributary  woe 
Commingled  with  thy  wave.      And  David's  Son 
In  after  years,  on  Love's  vicarious  way, 

Breathed  life  above  thee,  and  thy  torrent  told 
Its  music  to  the  wide-proclaiming  sea: 

And  still,  through  all  earth's  changes  manifold, 
Where  death  and  silence  strive  for  mastery, 

Throbs  the  prophetic  burden  of  thy  lay. 


182 


THE   DRUID. 

/^"*  ODLIKE  beneath  his  grave  divinities, 

v_JThe  last  of  all  their  worshippers,  he  stood. 

The  shadows  of  a  vanished  multitude 
Enwound  him,  and  their  voices  in  the  breeze 
Made  murmur,  while  the  meditative  trees 

Reared  of  their  strong  fraternal  branches  rude 

A  temple  meet  for  prayer.      What  blossoms  strewed 
The  path  between  Life's  morning  hours  and  these  ? 
What  lay  beyond  the  darkness  ?     He  alone 

The  sunshine  and  the  shadow  and  the  dew 
Had  shared  alike  with  leaf,  and  flower,  and  stem: 
Their  life  had  been  his  lesson  j  and  from  them 

A  dream  of  immortality  he  drew, 
As  in  their  fate  foreshadowing  his  own. 


183 


THE   HERMIT. 

HIGH  on  the  hoary  mountain-top  he  dwelt 
Alone  with  God,  whose  handiwork  above 

The  wonders  of  the  firmament  approve 
In  an  eternal  silence.     There  he  spelt 
The  name  of  the  Omnipotent,  and  knelt 

In  lowly  reverence  of  adoring  love. 

Beneath  him,  all  the  elements  that  move 
In  Nature's  prayerful  harmonies  he  felt, 
And  knew  their  mystic  meaning.      Thus  the  tone 

Of  lifted  billows,  and  the  storm  that  sways 
The  forest-seas  in  chorus,  spake  alone 

Divinity,  scarce  hidden  from  his  gaze  j 
And  with  their  mighty  voices  blent  his  own 

In  one  majestic  utterance  of  praise. 


184 


POE. 

SAD  spirit,  swathed  in  brief  mortality, 
Of  Fate  and  fervid  fantasies  the  prey, 

Till  the  remorseless  demon  of  dismay 
O'erwhelmed  thee — lo!  thy  doleful  destiny 
Is  chanted  in  the  requiem  of  the  sea 

And  shadowed  in  the  crumbling  ruins  gray 

That  beetle  o'er  the  tarn.      Here  all  the  day 
The  Raven  broods  on  solitude  and  thee: 
Here  gloats  the  moon  at  midnight,  while  the  Bells 

Tremble,  but  speak  not  lest  thy  Ulalume 
Should  startle  from  her  slumbers,  or  Lenore 
Hearken  the  love-forbidden  tone  that  tells  i 

The  shrouded  legend  of  thine  early  doom 
And  blast  the  bliss  of  heaven  forevermore. 


185 


SHELLEY. 

SHELLEY,  the  ceaseless  music  of  thy  soul 
Breathes  in  the  Cloud  and  in  the  Skylark's  song, 

That  float  as  an  embodied  dream  along 
The  dewy  lids  of  morning.      In  the  dole 
That  haunts  the  West  Wind,  in  the  joyous  roll 

Of  Arethusan  fountains,  or  among 

The  wastes  where  Ozymandias  the  strong 
Lies  in  colossal  ruin,  thy  control 
Speaks  in  the  wedded  rhyme.      Thy  spirit  gave 

A  fragrance  to  all  nature,  and  a  tone 
To  inexpressive  silence.      Each  apart  — 

Earth,  Air,  and  Ocean  —  claims  thee  as  its  own  j 
The  twain  that  bred  thee,  and  the  panting  wave 
That  clasped  thee,  like  an  overflowing  heart. 


186 


AT  KEATS' S    GRAVE. 

"  T  FEEL   the  flowers  growing  over  me." 

JL  Prophetic  thought!     Behold,  no  cypress  gloom 

Portrays  in  dim  memorial  the  doom 
That  quenched  the  ray  of  starlike  destiny  ! 
E'en  death  itself  deals  tenderly  with  thee: 

For  here,  the  livelong  year,  the  violets  bloom 

And  swing  their  fragrant  censers  till  the  tomb 
Forgets  the  legend  of  mortality. 
Nay:  while  the  pilgrim  periods  of  time 

Alternate  song  and  holy  requiem  sing, 
As  through  the  circling  centuries  sublime 

They  scatter  frost,  or  genial  sunshine  bring, 
With  gathered  sweets  of  every  varying  clime 

They  weave  around  thee  one  perpetual  Spring. 


187 


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